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Party leaders derided them and foolish. Colleagues and pundits branded them as grandstanders. The proposal was by a bipartisan majority.

This past week, the hardliners got their way. Urged on by President Donald Trump, nearly every Republican senator voted to gerrymander a new GOP seat. Then they rammed through a plan asking voters to severely limit citizens鈥� ability to change the state constitution by gathering signatures on a petition. To do it: They cut off debate in the Senate, something long considered sacred, for the fourth time on a bill this year, the most in more than a decade.

For the chamber鈥檚 old renegades, it was vindication 鈥� and a hopeful sign of things to come.

鈥淗ere we are, three years later,鈥� former Sen. Bill Eigel told the Post-Dispatch. 鈥淒onald Trump is able to get the moderates in the Missouri Senate to act like Republicans.鈥�

鈥淭he Senate,鈥� he said, 鈥渋s experiencing some big changes.鈥�

Altogether, the actions taken in the past week could be a body blow to Democrats in Missouri. If the new maps survive a lawsuit and a referendum push, the Democratic delegation to Congress will almost certainly be cut in half. The changes to the initiative petition process could cripple liberals鈥� ability to go around the Legislature and enact their policies via the ballot box. And if Republicans continue to aggressively limit the filibuster, statehouse Democrats will be hard pressed to shape any policy.

Mainline Republicans downplayed the moves this past week. They said Eigel was wrong, and cast the new policies as things they had wanted all along. The new maps, they said, were the right thing to do for a conservative state. The changes to the citizen petition process, they said, would keep out-of-state liberal interests from imposing their will on Missourians.

鈥淲e got things done because we were able to work with our caucus, because we don鈥檛 have Bill Eigel,鈥� said Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O鈥橪oughlin, R-Shelbina.

鈥淓igel鈥檚 having trouble with the truth again,鈥� said Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee鈥檚 Summit.

Democrats, however, saw the same thing Eigel did.

鈥淭his session happened because Republicans are scared,鈥� said Sen. Doug Beck, D-Affton. 鈥淭hey are scared of mean tweets from Donald Trump.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 just shocking,鈥� said Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia.

It wasn鈥檛 like this in 2022, when lawmakers returned to Jefferson City. Senate Republicans were fractious and divided.

The Conservative Caucus, a group of hard-right lawmakers led by Eigel, was wearing thin.

鈥楤ending over backwards for Democrats鈥�

The caucus had formed a few years earlier. They had for not moving fast enough on an abortion ban, then filibustered Gov. Mike Parson鈥檚 push for subsidies for a big General Motors project. In 2021, the group helped kill a tax bill needed to fund the state鈥檚 Medicaid system over concerns about the money funding birth control, forcing Parson to drag lawmakers back for a special session that summer.

When Republican leaders called a meeting later that year to discuss plans for 2022, they refused to invite the hardliners.

A few weeks later, the Senate took up a redistricting bill expected to maintain the status quo 鈥� that Missouri would send six Republicans and two Democrats to the U.S. House. The caucus objected, urging their colleagues to go with a new map carving up the Kansas City-based 5th District to create another seat for the GOP.

Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, called the 6-2 proposal 鈥渁trocious.鈥� Then-Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, called it 鈥溾�� at a Capitol rally.

Republican leaders , saying they had legitimate concerns that a 鈥�7-1鈥� map would spread Republican voters too thin and give Democrats a chance to win three seats. O鈥橪oughlin, the future Senate leader, told constituents on Facebook she worried that adding urban and suburban voters could eventually overwhelm rural concerns. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want city people with whom we have little in common being drawn into our areas,鈥� she wrote.

But it felt like GOP leaders were just afraid of Democratic filibusters that could hold up other priorities, Eric Burlison, then a state senator and now a U.S. congressman, recalled this week. Republicans had the numbers to cut off debate, but they didn鈥檛 use them.

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 want to eat up floor time,鈥� Burlison said. 鈥淚t was always like, 鈥榃e left this on the table because Republicans were willing to bend over backwards for Democrats.鈥欌��

Last year, similar divisions returned. Republicans were pushing to change the initiative petition process, to ask voters to make it harder to amend the state constitution.

It was in conservative crosshairs 鈥� progressive groups had used the process to expand Medicaid and legalize abortion despite GOP opposition.

The caucus wanted to add a provision banning noncitizens from voting, which could make the proposition look better on the ballot. And they had more allies than before.

But Democrats filibustered for hours. Some Republicans cut a deal to keep the noncitizen clause out. When hardliners insisted on bringing it back, the proposition fell apart.

鈥楾hat鈥檚 what changed everything鈥�

Then this summer, the White House intervened.

Eager to maintain Republicans鈥� edge in the U.S. House in midterm elections that have historically gone against the president鈥檚 party, Trump started leaning on red states across the country to redraw their maps to secure seats.

After Texas heeded the call, the president鈥檚 team turned its attention to Missouri, to encourage action. Just before Labor Day, Gov. Mike Kehoe said he would be calling lawmakers into a special session to pass the new maps and put petition restrictions on the ballot.

And when legislators returned this month, they made quick work of the assignment, brushing off protests that filled the Capitol rotunda and an appeal from U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, the Democrat whose seat is on the chopping block.

Some Republicans downplayed the influence of the president, saying the bills before them were things they have supported for years.

But for Burlison, the congressman and former Conservative Caucus member, the president definitely made the new maps happen.

鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what changed everything,鈥� he said.

And it may have lasting consequences. Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, said the events of the past week were like nothing he鈥檇 ever seen before.

鈥淚t feels like a new world,鈥� he said.

Eigel, who is running for St. Charles County Executive after exceeding expectations in a bid for governor last year, said he thinks Republicans may turn their special session approach into a habit on what he called 鈥淏ig Red鈥� issues important to the GOP base.

鈥淏ecause they鈥檝e seen that if they don鈥檛, they might end up in a special session down the road,鈥� he said.

Katie Kull of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.